My Heart Is On My Sleeve (Wear It Like A Bruise)
by Hollyleaf The Black Cat
Summary: A story of how Tashigi and Smoker first met.


**Author's Note:** I gave up on writing fics but I found this one in some documents I was transferring over to my new computer. Decided to finish it because Smoker/Tashigi is one of my all time OTPs. This was from some prompt list I can't find (credit goes out to whoever made the list, all I had written at the top of this document was prompt: meeting in the infirmary au). Enjoy!

Title comes from "Chicago Is So Two Years Ago" by Fall Out Boy.

* * *

He hadn't **wanted** it to become a fight; it just did.

And that was what lead to his current trip to the base's infirmary.

Smoker leaned back against the headboard of the bed, closed his eyes (well eye as the other one had pretty well swollen itself shut), and absentmindedly puffed on his cigar.

His thoughts drifted away from the sharp pain in his side when he breathed (some ribs were broken he was positive of that and, yes, maybe smoking the cigar wasn't doing anything to help the pain) to a more pleasant thought of how the room was giving him some rare quiet time that he so often craved but never truly found on the base.

"No smoking in the infirmary, Smoker."

 _So much for the quiet._

Angrily clenching his teeth on his cigar (another bad idea cause it made his bruised jaw hurt), Smoker raised up to see Hina standing in front of him, her hands on her hips and a disapproving look on her face.

"And to have picked a fight with a couple of new recruits," continued Hina, shaking her head, "Have you no respect for the rules, Smoker?"

"Technically, I wasn't the one who picked the fight. They did. I just threw the first punch to get it over with quick."

Hina let out a sigh as she grabbed a chair and took a seat beside him. She then reached over and plucked the cigar out of his mouth and stomped it out on the edge of the chair. He let out a low growl. "Hina can't understand how you are being considered for Captain. You act up too much, Smoker."

"I just do what needs to be done," he countered.

"What started the fight?" asked Hina.

Smoker sighed, the action bringing the pain in his side back to the forefront of his thoughts, as he thought about what started the fight.

 **X**

"Give it back! Don't touch my Shigure!"

Smoker had been on his way from the training grounds when he'd heard the shouts. Tired, sweaty, and ready to enjoy a smoke and some rock stacking, Smoker hadn't necessarily felt like looking into the commotion. But he was a lieutenant, one of the higher ranking officers on the base, so it almost felt like his duty to check it out.

So that's what he did. He headed over to the lawn where he heard the shouting and saw a group of recruits gathered together.

Probably just some boys screwing around. Knowing that such scuffles between boys were common, Smoker decided to let it go.

"How does a weak, little girl have a sword like this?" asked one of them.

Smoker stopped and raised his eyebrow. _Girl?_

He turned around as one of the boys moved and that's when Smoker noticed a girl in the middle of the crowd, being restrained by one of the boys. She had to be about sixteen, a recruit as well judging from her standard outfit. Her cap had been knocked off and revealed her shoulder length raven hair. A pair of large red glasses lay on the ground a few feet away.

"Do you think someone like you carrying this around will scare any of those criminals off? Haha. I bet you don't even know how to use it."

The ringleader of the group began swinging the sword around in the air as if using it to swat a bunch of flies.

"Hey I want a turn to play with it," shouted a third boy.

"Stop it! Using a sword is more than just swinging it around. Show it some respect!" shouted the girl. The fury in her eyes only grew and so did the tears welling up in them. She struggled against the guy holding her but she couldn't budge.

"Haha. Respect? We only respect the strong who deserve it. You, girlie, don't deserve our respect," said the leader.

"Honestly, why do they let girls like you in the Navy?" asked the one holding her.

"Girls are just as strong as boys! Don't look down on me cause I'm a girl! I belong here as much as any of you!" she shouted. That's when she elbowed the one holding her in the stomach and broke free as he fell to the ground. She started off toward the leader and for a second Smoker could see the fear in the boy's eyes.

That is until the girl tripped over her own glasses.

 _What the hell was that?!_ Smoker had to admit he'd been standing there admiring the girl's spirit but then some of that admiration was lost when he saw how clumsy she was.

 _I better go put an end to this._ "Hey!" shouted Smoker. "What's going on here?"

The boys turned toward Smoker and all but the leader froze.

"What's it to you?" sneered the leader.

That's when one of the boys hit him. "Idiot, that's Lieutenant Smoker," he whispered.

"That supposed to scare me?" asked the leader. Then he turned his attention back to Smoker. "Look, Lieutenant, we were just playing around with one of the newer recruits. No harm done."

He looked down at the girl and noticed she'd put on her now shattered glasses. "That true?" he asked her.

"Wh-what?" she asked, nervously.

"Is there no harm done?" he asked.

She was quiet for a moment as she just stared at him. He could tell from the look in her eyes she was debating on what to say. To say she was hurt could make her look weak which he knew would bother her but to not say anything and let these bullies keep this up and possibly hurt someone else would be just as bad.

In the end, he assumed she let her pride take the hit than possibly another recruit like herself.

"I'm-I'm fine but these guys are bullies. I feel their actions are a disgrace to the Navy."

"Why you little bitch?!" shouted the ringleader as he lunged toward her but he was stopped when Smoker punched him in the gut with one hand and pulled the sword out of his hand with the other. Groaning, the leader fell to the ground.

"Boss!" shouted the three other boys. The girl stared at Smoker, stunned.

The leader on the ground glared up at Smoker who just looked down at him.

"Why don't you four head back to the barracks and I won't have to report you? I'm sure you've learned your lesson."

"Why you!" growled the leader.

But Smoker had already moved his attention to the girl on the ground. "Here," he said as he handed her the sword.

"Thank-thank you!" she began until her eyes went wide and she shouted "Look out!"

Before Smoker could turn around three of the boys tackled him to the ground. He tried his hardest to try and break out from them but the fact he was outnumbered, tired, and had been taken by surprise didn't help him.

"Get off him!" shouted the girl as she began pulling at one of the boys but one of them ending up elbowing her in the face, hard. She stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.

Smoker tried even harder to break free from them until he felt a strong kick to the right side of his face.

The leader of the group stood in front of him, a smirk on his face. "Heh, you're supposed to be a lieutenant? You're not so tough."

The leader stepped around and gave Smoker a good kick to his ribs then encouraged the other boys to get up and do the same. They hopped off Smoker but before he could find the strength to push himself up all four boys began assault him with kicks.

He grit his teeth and took each blow, trying hard to ignore the pain and turn his head to see what happened with the girl.

"Get away from him!" came a sudden shout and that's when the back of her sword came crashing down on the back of one of the boys head.

He fell to the ground, holding his head.

"Get her!" shouted the leader and they all turned their attention from Smoker to the girl.

She head her sword up in front of her, obviously ready to attack if needed.

Smoker gritted his teeth, angry that he'd let these stupid punks get the better of him.

He could feel his eye swelling up but he could still get a glimpse of the girl. Sweaty, bruised, blood dried on her face, yet she still had a stubborn, never quit look in her eyes as the other three boys approached her.

He almost let out a laugh. This young girl seemed to have more fight in her than he did at the moment.

 _Can't let her do this alone. Guess I gotta use it. Gotta use the devil fruit._

He couldn't help but think back to what he'd been told when he'd first been offered the devil fruit.

 _Lieutenant Smoker, we had our doubts about giving you this but we believe you're one of our best candidates for it._

 _The devil fruit comes with a curse of never being able to swim again. Are you sure you still want to accept it?_

 _This is the plume-plume fruit. It's a Logia type. It will take time to truly learn how to harness it's power._

 _Normally these abilities aren't offered up to anyone under Captain rank but we've been seeing more pirates with powers so we've been taking the necessary counter measures._

 _Use it however you want in battle but don't be fooling around with them on base unless it's in solitary training or working with another devil fruit user. Many people are uncomfortable around those with devil fruit powers._

 _Do you understand, Lieutenant Smoker?_

He'd understood but understanding rules and following them were completely different things.

So he took a deep breath and put all his focus on changing his body. That was what he'd been practicing earlier: maintaining the change of form.

 _Legs. Change legs. Change!_ Earlier he'd been able to change his legs into smoke and float off the ground. He hoped it'd help him get up and maybe give those recruits a scare and send them running.

But nothing was happening.

 _Change, dammit! Change already!_ He gritted his teeth trying to force the powers to work but he guessed his body was just too worn out.

"I won't give up!"

He heard the girl's cry ringing in his ears, as well as the clattering of her sword to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the boys had pushed her to the ground and began barraging her with kicks. She curled herself into the tightest ball she could and took each blow while trying to hold back tears.

Smoker slammed his balled fist into the ground. He'd be damned if he was going to let those kids hurt that girl. _I'm not going down without a fight!_

Suddenly he felt the sensation, still so new, so strange. He still wasn't confident he could hold it for long but he didn't need long.

"Knock it off, you punks!" he shouted as he felt himself floating higher above them.

They turned to look at him and immediately they're eyes went wide.

"D-D-Devil Fruit!" one shouted.

"He's one of those monsters!" shouted the other.

Even the leader was shaking a little bit this time. "Let's-Let's go, boys!"

They started running off but Smoker wasn't going to let them go that easily. "No you don't!"

Suddenly his arms transformed into smoke and shot around the group of boys. It was a move he'd been working on to trap his opponents. He'd also been practicing with the density of his smoke. And the dense it was the tighter it held them.

"Ah! What is this!?" shouted one.

"Let me go! Let me go!" shouted the leader.

"I'll let you go, alright." He raised his arms up, ready to give the boys a scare like he was going to slam them into the ground. They immediately started begging for him not to hurt them. Mumbled words about not ever hurting that girl again. The leader of them even started crying.

 _That'll teach 'em._ Smoker prepared to set them down but suddenly he felt his body returning to normal. His legs slowly coming back, his arms loosing their hold on the boys. _Shit._

Suddenly, they all came crashing to the earth. The boys fell to the ground, unconscious. Smoker landed ungracefully on his back with a thud.

He didn't make an effort to get up this time, not as he heard some other officers running over to the scene. Let someone else deal with it. He just stared up at the sky until it was replaced with the face of the girl, leaning over him.

He noticed her broke glasses resting on her head, the dried blood around her nose, the little welt that was forming on her forehead. If she was hurting though she didn't seem to show it. All he saw was the glint of amazement in her big, brown eyes.

"Are you okay, little lady?"

He didn't know if her cheeks were red from the fight or if she was blushing. "I-I'm fine," she stammered out. "What about you?"

He sighed. "I'll live."

She smiled at that. Then her face grew more serious. "Um," she began, "I just want to say-"

"Lieutenant!"

The girl jumped away from Smoker at the shout; Smoker simply raised his head up to see one of his superiors making his way over to him.

The girl saluted him. "Vice Admiral!"

He just waved her off. "Someone take her to the infirmary."

Smoker watched as two other officers began leading her off to the infirmary. She looked back at him as if she didn't want to go but then turned around and made her way off.

"You better have an explanation for all this, Lieutenant! Especially for using your devil fruit powers!"

The vice admiral kept talking but Smoker couldn't really make it all out. He suddenly felt drained, as if he could sleep for a few days. The sky suddenly looked blurry.

"...Well?" asked the vice admiral.

"Eat shit," Smoker mumbled as he slowly faded out of consciousness.

 **X**

After he finished telling Hina about the incident, she could only shake her head. "Smoker..." She looked like she was about to say something else until they heard footsteps at the door to his room. Both of them turned their heads to see the girl standing there. As their glances met her she immediately saluted them, an ice pack still in her hand.

"Lieutenant Smoker, Lieutenant Hina!" she began before lowering her hand and her gaze to the floor. "I...I'm sorry for...I didn't mean to...interrupt. I-I'll just wait outside."

She turned to leave until Hina rose from her chair and said, "No need. Hina was just about to leave. Besides Hina's sure you have more important things to discuss with this troublemaker than her."

As she passed the girl she placed her hand on her shoulder. "Don't let him make you feel sorry for him. Smoker got himself into that mess. Hina feels he doesn't deserve such a cute girl's sentiment." Hina turned back to give Smoker a teasing look while the girl stood there stammering and blushing.

Then it was just the two of them. Smoker watched as the girl lingered nervously in the doorway. He let out a sigh.

"You can take a seat."

"R-right!" she began. She made her way across the room to the chair then removed her sword and took a seat. Silence returned as she fidgeted with the handle of her sword. He just watched her, waiting for her to speak.

Finally she raised her head up.

"Um, I came here to...to say thank you, Lieutenant Smoker. You fought for me and protected me and I'm very thankful for that. But...but I also want to say that...that I'm sorry that you got hurt because of me. We in the Navy are supposed to be strong and I feel that today my weakness ended up getting you hurt and I shouldn't have allowed that to have happened I should've...I should've-"

"You talking to my IV."

She blinked, surprised by the interruption. She then rose from the chair and leaned in closer to his IV. Then she turned her head and Smoker couldn't help but grow red at how close her face was. _How blind is she without those glasses?_ "Ah, I'm sorry,'' she began as she returned to the chair. "Um, lieutenant..."

"Don't," he began and her eyes grew wide again. He looked her straight in the eyes as he continued. "I don't want an apology. Hina's right, I got myself into that. I chose to help you. And it has nothing to do with you being weak. Those punks were playing unfair and dirty. Four against one. Whether you were a man or a woman there would be no winning that. So don't beat yourself up. Besides from what I could see with a fair fight you could've taken them all out. You've got more strength than most of the men here, little lady."

"Tashigi," she began, a soft smile on her face. "My name's Tashigi."

Smoker couldn't help but return her smile. Granted, she still needed some training, needed to work on that clumsiness, but she had potential. Smoker could see her becoming a great officer some day.

He hoped he'd get the chance to help her do it.

* * *

Reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated.


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